It’s that time of year again, the month-long period in which neighbors are engaged in a silent competition to make their homes as festive as possible. And right now, you might be thinking you’ve won, after hanging 100 strands of lights and peppering the front lawn with a dozen glowing holiday figurines. There’s no way you’ll be outdone this year!
Except an hour later, the top hat on your plastic Frosty catches on fire. It was probably a bad idea to plug 11 cords into one outlet. Before he melts, the flame could spread and ruin more than just your holiday décor.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence. For far too many people, the holidays turn tragic due to fires caused by attempts to spread holiday cheer.
Trees – artificial or natural?
Before you head into the wild and chop down the nearest evergreen, check out this video. The National Fire Prevention Association (NFPA) and Underwriter Laboratories produced it to show how dangerous dry holiday trees can be.
If you have a real tree, make sure it’s fully watered at all times. At the first sign of dryness in the needles, throw it out. The NFPA estimates that 12 people needlessly die each year from holiday tree fires! The NFPA has a lot of great information on tree safety: Holiday Fire Facts and Safety Tips.
Overloaded outlets
When the sun goes down, homes everywhere begin to shine. The holidays wouldn’t be the same without the glow of lights. If you’re going to use decorative lights, make sure you use properly rated outdoor extension cords and do not overload electrical circuits
Also, don’t decorate alone; involve the family! Nearly 5,800 of Santa’s elves visit an emergency room each year with injuries from hanging holiday decorations. Get help when stringing lights on those hard-to-reach places. For more information, check out this Consumer Product Safety Commission brochure.
Roasting on an open fire
Even though the holidays are magical, you can’t forget the candle safety tips you practice year-round. In the U.S., a candle fire is reported every 30 seconds. Candles are a common holiday sight, but they are usually too close to combustible decorations. Watch this COUNTRY Financial video and see how dangerous unattended candles can be.
Heating is also very important during the chilly holiday season. Be safe with space heating devices, and don’t forget to check the batteries in your smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Take a look at this information from the NFPA to put a freeze on winter fires and get fire safety tips from COUNTRY.
The holidays can be the most wonderful time of the year, as long as you remember to be careful during all the celebrating.
Great tips, Eric! That video is incredible. The “decorating alone” tip reminded me of the anxiety I would feel every holiday season when my pops headed outside with a ladder and a box of lights. Thankfully we were able to convince him to keep the decor below roof-level these past few years. I’m sharing this story with friends and family – always a good reminder to be safe during the holiday season! Thanks!
Eric, great blog and reminders to keep everyone safe during the holiday season as well as year round!
Thank you for the great tips Eric. I am married to a firefighter and all to often hear the sad stories regarding the things you wrote about. Another important fact about space heaters; they should not be plugged in using an extension cord. The electrical pull is too much for a standard extension cord. A fire in East Moline, IL last month was from a space heater overloading an extension cord. The home was a total loss.
BE SAFE!!!
Thanks for the comments! Deb, you bring up a very imporant point about using extension cords for space heaters. Space heaters are one of the major causes of fires in the winter. People really need to be careful where they place them and how they use them. Far too many homes are burnt down when a space heater starts bedding or curtains on fire, or overloads an extension cord. NFPA has some good info about space heaters on that winter fires link in the blog.